


we have always been prepared to be left behind

by irlgansey



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Avatar TFA AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-01
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-05-17 13:17:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5871088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irlgansey/pseuds/irlgansey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A TFA Avatar AU, where Rey is the avatar and the First Order is a neo-Empire cult with rising power. They're mainly firebenders. Finn is a First Order deserter, and Poe is an Earth Nation citizen working for Earth Queen Leia. Enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	we have always been prepared to be left behind

Rey’s never been anywhere outside the desert. 

She dreams of green based on the cacti she’s seen at desert flea markets, but she doesn’t any more material to work with. All she’s ever known is the sweat,  
hunger, and sand that comes with being a scavenger surrounded by millions of sand dunes. Rey knows the heat, the hot winds, and the fraying tan fabric that she wraps around her in order to prevent against sunburns and gritty sand. Sand gets everywhere; it’s always in her headwrap, her clothes, and her hair. Rey loves the feeling of it shifting beneath her feet. She can feel grains of sand in between her feet and the weathered wood of her makeshift miniature barge as she bends the sand into her barge’s sail and blows her way across the Si Wong Desert. Her sail is made out of rags she finds, and her small barge is made from pieces of wood she salvages from old sandbender barges she finds sinking into the sand. 

Occasionally, Rey finds something among the thousands of sand dunes. An old helmet, the faded green of torn Earth Kingdom rags, bits of decades-old Fire Nation armor. Rey knows that there were once Fire Nation troops here; they used to be stationed at watering hole outposts to search for any wise old hermits that would give them the way to powerful benders. Old Fire Nation memorabilia goes for a high price at the markets, and it’s a lucky day when she finds any. The tiny desert outpost of Jakku has lots of old wreckage from the Hundred Years War, whether it’s old firebender soldier masks or Earth Nation metal helmets.  
Rey tries to avoid the other sandbenders that come across her path; she doesn’t want anyone taking away what little she scavenges. There’s groups of powerful sandbenders that roam the desert looking to rob anyone they come across, and Rey doesn’t want to be one of their victims. She knows she doesn’t appear like much, but she knows the sandbender gangs are ruthless, and would take what she scavenges in a heartbeat. 

Something catches her eye from across the dunes. 

It’s a rusted, old red piece of Fire Nation rhino armor, probably from the Hundred Years War. Rey can feel her face light up underneath her headwrap; this will probably fetch a decent price with the fat man who deals dried portions for wreckage and parts. Rey has no idea how he manages to be overweight in the middle of the desert. She works hard to scavenge what she can and she’s still barely surviving. There’s been a lot of nights when she’s gone to bed with her stomach growling. Rey puts the rusted sheet of metal in the bag, and gets back on her small barge.

By the time Rey gets to Jakku, the sun is nearing the horizon, and a reddish glow is washing over the worn tan shacks and tiny homes. She trudges to the shabby marketplace with her bag full of scrap wood and metal, and pulls out her water flask. There’s only a few drops of water left. Rey’s throat is parched. Someone walking by knocks it out of her hand, and Rey rushes to grab it before someone else can take it. She traded a good amount of parts for it, and she’s not going to lose it. Rey scrambles to protect her bag full of parts before passing hands can steal what she’s worked so hard to collect. She slings the bag over her shoulder before standing up, and walks over to the fat man. Some people call him “blobfish” as a nod to his lack of jawline and round nose. Rey’s never seen a blobfish, but she assumes that any Water Tribe person who’s come across one is right. 

“Five copper pieces? This piece alone was worth five pieces last week!” Rey exclaims.

“What’s it to you?” the fat man responds. “Take your five pieces, scavenger.” 

Rey bites back an unpleasant comment, takes her five pieces, and walks away.

She sits on her barge and eats the small, stale loaf of bread that was worth her 5 copper pieces. It’s tough on her teeth and she can feel grains of sand on her tongue, but it’s enough. After Rey’s finished eating, she lies on her back and looks at the stars. Something inside of her stirs at the stars; she feels an ache in her heart at all of the lives before her having seen the exact same constellations. One looks like a badger mole, Rey thinks. She wonders if anyone else thinks the same thing. 

Rey is lonely; she hasn’t known her family since she was very small. She likes to imagine that her mother was very beautiful. Rey remembers that when she was around eight, she would play out scenarios in her head of her parents coming back to the Jakku outpost looking for their daughter. She still thinks of those scenarios. Sometimes Rey gets angry; why did her parents leave her? Why have they never come back, after eighteen years? Why does she have no one important in her life besides herself? Rey feels another ache in her chest; one that has little to do with the stars. 

After some time spent lying under the vast desert sky, Rey sandbends her shabby barge back to what she calls home. It’s the shell of what was once a grand Fire Nation tank; the sand has dulled the edges and other scavengers have taken its tracks. Still, it’s home. She opens the tank’s hatch, and climbs inside.  
There’s a small, handmade doll of an Earth Nation soldier lying next to Rey’s messy makeshift bed, which she slumps down in. Rey unwinds her headwrap, revealing messy dark brown hair tied back in three buns. She takes off her goggles, and sets them next to the doll and a small candle. The candle was a splurge one day; Rey had found a valuable Fire Nation general’s helmet and got 3 silver pieces for it. That day, she bought herself the candle and an expensive loaf of bread. It was one of her best days. Laying on her back, she stares up at the dark, worn steel of the tank. Rey wishes she could see the stars. She can barely see anything, let alone stars. Out of impulse, Rey looks from side to side before bending a small flame upon the candle’s wick. She relishes in the warm glow it gives her home. She stares at the tank’s ceiling for a long time before scratching a tally mark into the tank’s side wall. There are many, many tally marks. Rey sighs, and lays back down before bending a gust of air to extinguish the candle.


End file.
